Rotary tooth-brush.



C. hBEL.

ROTARY TOOTH BRUSH.

APPLICATION men car. a. 191:

1,297,771. Patented Mar. 18, 1919.

Wilma/woo ii F mmym CHARLES ABEL, OF FORT SAM HOUSTON, TEXAS.

ROTARY TOOTH-BRUSH.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Mar. 18, 19.19.

Application filed October 8, 1918. Serial No. 257,356.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lino'r. Con. CHAnLns ABEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Sam Houston, in the county of Bexar and State of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rotary Tooth-Brushes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to brushes, particularly to those of the rotary type, and has for its object the provision of a tooth brush. comprising a casing having formed into grally u pon our nd thereof an open sided guard member within which is rotatably mounted a. brush head protruding beyond the open side thereof and driven by an oper ating shaft rotatable through said casing and provided at its extremity with a crank handle, the construction and arrangement of the brush being such that when placed in the mouth of the user a thorough cleansing action may be effected longitudinally of the teeth instead of transversely thereof so that particles of food may be easily removed from the crevices between the teeth and brushed away from the gums, the guard member engaging against the check so as to prevent abrasion or laceration thereof.

An important object is the provision of a device of this character which is so constructed that the parts thereof may be read ily disassembled to facilitate cleaning or to permit replacing of the brush head after it has become worn.

Another obj ect is the provision of a device of this character which will be simple and inexpensive in manufacture, which may be readily o erated, which will be efficient in use, dura 1e in service and a general improvement in the art.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view the invention consists in the details of construction to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the complete device Fig. 2 is a longitudinal therethrough Fig. 3 is a detail cross sectional view llllltifllgh the guard member and brush head an Fig. 4 is a detail view of the attaching end of the brush and sectional view Fig. 5 is a detail view of the brush engaging end of the operating shaft.

eferring more particularly to the drawdesignates the main or device which is formed as a cylindrical casing which is cutaway along one side as shown at 11 to provide a substantially semi-cylindrical guard 12 the free end of which is provided with a hearing plate 13. Disposed within the casing 10 adjacent the cut away portion 11 is a partition 14 having a hole 15 formed our wally therein Th operzuin shaft i designated b" th numeral 16 and is formed as a cylindrical member having one end reduced as shown at 17 for passage through the hole 15 in the partition 14 and which is provided adjacent its other end with a, reduced portion 18 engageable within a hole 19 formed in a plug 20 externally threaded for engagement within the internally threaded open en'd'of the casing 10. From this construction it will be seen that the operating shaft lti may be rotated freely within the caslingt lO but is prevented from longitudinal gnoyement by virtue of the partition 14 and plug 20. Ad jacent the reduced portion 18, theoperating shaft has formed thereon a crank handle 21 whereby the operating Rllaftfiiaj he rotatedv The brush head is designated; by the nu-- moral 22 and 18 formed preferably of twisted wire havin a plurality of bristle tufts secured there etween, this brnshdiead being of cylindricalv orm and, bein disposed within the guard meml erfinl on 6nd of the stem 23 of the brush head carries a trunnion 24 journaled in a hole in the bearing plate 13 and the other end of the stem has ings the numeral 10 body portion of my secured thereon a wing member 25 engage within a transverse recess in the reduced end 17 of the drive shaft 16.

The different parts of the brush are assembled asfollows: The brush head 22 is disposed within the guard member 12 with its trunnion 24 extending through the hole in the end bearing plate 13, the drive shaft 16 is inserted through the open end of the casing 10 and its reduced end 17 passed through the hole 15 in the artltion 14, the slot or recess 26 in the re uced end 17 of the shaft is engaged upon the wing member 25 carried by the stem of the brush head 22, after which the plug 20 is slid over the crank handle 21 onto the reduced portion 18 of the drive shaft and threaded into the open end of the cas' 10. In the use of the device, the operator aces the guard portion 12 within his moutli with .the closed side of the ard disposed against his cheek and witi the brush head 22 disposed against his teeth. Holding the casing 10 in one hand the operator grasps the crank handle 21 in the other hand and rotates the drive shaft 16 and consequently the brush head 22 so as to efl'ect a cleansing ,action on the teeth. The direction of rotation should be such that the brush will rotate awa from the gums so as to brush off partic of food and the like away from the vfi ei i ever it is desired to remove the brush head for cleaning or replacing the same, it is merely necessary that the plug 20 be unscrewed whereupon the shaft 16 may be moved longitudinally so that it may be disengaged from the W111 member 25 carried by the brush head, w ereupon the brush head ma have its trunnion 24 disengaged from t e end bearing plate 13 and consequently removed.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawing it will be apparent that I have thus provided an extremely simple and eflicient rotary tooth brush whereby a cleansing action may be efl'ected longitudinally ofthe teeth instead of trans versely thereof so as to remove all particles of food or other matter from between the teeth and. leave the mouth in a f hly sanitary and satisfactory condition. t will be furthermore noted that the device may be very easily disassembled in order to facilitate cleani of the parts or in order to replace thfirush after the brush has become worn.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will of course be readily understood that I reserve the right to make such changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts as will not depart from the spirit of tllle invention nor the scope of the su joined 0 aims.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. A rotary tooth brush comprising a cylindrical casi having one end open and internally threa ed, a portion of said casing being cut away adjacent one end to provide a substantially semi-cylindrical guardmember, a bearing plate at the free end of said guard member, a partition within said adjacent said cut away portion and provided with a central hole, a drive shaft disposed within said casing and having one end portion reduced and journaled through the hole in said partition, a reduced portion formed on said drive shaft adjacent its other end, a plug threaded within the internally threaded open end of said casing and provided with a central openin engaging upon said second named reduce portion, a crank handle formed on the outer end of said shaft, and a brush head disposed within said guard member, connected with said drive shaft and journaled in said bearing plate.

2. A rotary tooth brush comprising a cylindrical casing serving as a handle and provided adjacent one end with a cut out portion, the free end of said casing adjacent said out out portion being formed as a bearing plate, a drive shaft journaled in said casing and having its end adjacent said cut out portion rovlded with a central hole and lateral s ots communicatin therewith, a brush head having its spindfia journaled at one end in said bearing plate, and a wing member on the other end of said s indle eonformin 1y engagi within the ho e and slot in said drive-sha and means to permit longitudinal movement of said drive shaft whereby to efl'ect disengagement thereof from said win member.

In testimony w lereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES ABEL, Lmn'r. ComNnL. 

